(Newser)
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They didn't explain why, but the crew of Continental Flight 61 asked passengers about halfway through their flight whether there was a doctor on board. It was only when the plane landed that passengers learned their 60-year-old captain had died somewhere between Brussels and New Jersey, the Star-Ledger reports. The pilot, an airline veteran of 32 years, died of natural causes, and co-pilots safely landed the plane in Newark.

"They asked for a doctor but that could be a lot of things, a broken arm, a pregnant person," said one of the 247 passengers. "A dead pilot wasn't what I expected."